SANDY, Utah (ABC4 Sports) – The Utah Royals came into Saturday’s Summer Cup Tournament game against Portland having scored more than one goal in game just one time this season.
But against the Thorns, the Royals found the back of the net a season-high three times in a 3-1 victory, by far the team’s best performance of the season.
“I’m just so proud of our team tonight,” said Ally Sentnor, who scored her fourth goal of the season. I’m so proud of the work we put in tonight. You can really see all the changes we’ve made over these past couple of weeks, and I’m just so excited for this group to keep going.”
The Royals opened the scoring in the third minute, when Paige Monaghan sent a crossing pass in the box to Hannah Betfort, who used a back heel flick to score her first goal of the season, giving Utah an early 1-0 lead.
The Royals doubled the lead in the 21st minute on a laser shot by rookie Ally Sentnor for her team-leading fourth goal of the year to give Utah a 2-0 lead at the half.
Portland cut the lead in half in the 66th minute when Olivia Moultrie beat Mandy Haught with a blast from just outside the box into the upper corner of the net to make it a 2-1 game.
But the Royals scored its third goal for the first time all year when Jennifer Vasconcelos richoted a shot off a defender, in what was initially scored as an own goal, but later changed to Vansconelos’ first goal of the year.
“There’s been a lot of ups and downs, and you can see us kind of trying to come out of it right now,” Sentnor said. “We want to get some wins under our belt. We’re just super excited, and going to try to keep this going for the rest of the season.”
The Royals will wrap up pool play in the inaugural Summer Cup, that pits NWSL teams and Liga MX teams against each other during the Olympic break, against Club Tijuana Wednesday at America First Field at 8:00 p.m.
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